And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

The greater the damage, the harder forgiveness becomes. It might be easy to forgive a minor offense or cutting word, but sabotage, abuse, murder — these are tough to forgive someone for.

The keys to forgiveness are honesty and humility. The sins that weighed me down have been forgiven by God, when he sent Jesus Christ to pay the price for my sins. I then have the ability to forgive others of the sins that they have committed against me.

Forgiveness is not just a one-time act. It’s an attitude. We have to get our minds to a place where we will entertain forgiveness in place of bitterness, anger, and malice. If we cannot do this, then what grows in our hearts is worse than the offense taking out against us.

People who easily forgive are free. This does not mean there’s no consequence to actions. On the contrary, you can forgive and still issue out consequences or bring people to justice. But it is a releasing of that person into the hands of God. And with a mindset of forgiveness, reconciliation can follow.

Reconciliation is like a fruit of forgiveness. With forgiveness, we offer the opportunity for the other person to reconcile with us. They get to choose if they will do that or not. And by offering this gift of forgiveness, we please God. Sometimes, we will find the amazing ways God reconciles relationships that many thought were irreconcilable or impossible to repair.

Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to pray to you about forgiveness every day. Both the forgiveness I need and the forgiveness I need to give others. Forgiveness allows me to reconcile relationships by the power of your Spirit.